In the Streets of Seattle
by Chibi Iggy
Summary: A few gunshots, and Feliciano and Lovino lost everything, even each other. As they try to find each other again, they'll soon realize they're not the only kids in Seattle that are alone.
1. Alone

Ok, so to write my other two fics I have to be at a computer the entire time. I needed something I could just write down at school and stuff, so when this idea popped into my head in the middle of the night last night, I had to start writing it. And then I typed it up and sent it to my friend so she could read it and she told me I had to post it. So I did ^^

Warnings: This chapter contains death and Lovi's vocabulary.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia (of course)

* * *

Lovino's POV

I felt the first drop hit my head. Then another, and another. The water came down faster and faster until I was completely soaked. Of course it was raining. It always rained when terrible things happened.

I leaned my back against the brick wall behind me and slowly slid down until I was sitting on the ground. I felt like I was going to pass out from exhaustion. I probably didn't need to run as far as I did, but I couldn't let myself stop until I was too tired to go any farther.

"D-dammit _-__pant- _Feliciano," I muttered to myself. "Where did _-__pant- _you go? Why did you go _-__pant- _the other way?" As soon as I had seen the guns, I tried to grab him and get him out of there. But when he heard the men fire he bolted in the complete opposite direction.

Before I could go after him, the men had started coming towards me. I ran, but not before I saw the shots they fired had hit their targets, leaving my parents lying in a steadily growing pool of their own blood.

And now here I was, sitting in a puddle in some ally in a neighborhood I didn't recognize. A-and that was definitely rain running down my face. I wasn't crying. Why would I cry? Just because my parents were dead, and Feliciano was missing, and... dammit.

Everybody was gone. And I was alone.

* * *

Feliciano's POV

"F-fratello..." I sobbed. Where did he go? I should have turned around. I should have followed him. But when those robbers shot Mama and Papa, I ran without thinking, and without looking back.

Now I was under a large old willow tree in an old park nobody comes to any more. I couldn't run any more. All I could do was sit here hugging my knees to my chest and cry. After a while I realized how tired I was, so I laid down and curled myself up.

"I'm sorry, Lovino." I whispered before falling into a restless sleep.

* * *

When I woke up the next morning, I could hear two boys talking. "Do you think he's okay?" one asked.

"I hope so. It would definitely _not_ be awesome for a kid like him to be hurt." I opened my eyes and looked up at the people in front of me.

"Hey, he's awake! Are you alright?" the larger of the two asked in a far from quiet voice.

"Wah!" I jumped back.

"Hey, back off, Ludwig. You're scaring him." He offered a hand to help me stand up. As he pulled me up, he said, "I'm Gilbert, but you can call me the King of Awesome!"

The other boy, who I guess must have been Ludwig, put his hand to his forehead. "No, don't call him that."

"He can call me what he wants! Anyway, that's my little brother Ludwig. Who are you?" His little brother? But Ludwig was obviously the taller one, and looked like he was more responsible than Gilbert...

"I'm Feliciano," I told them. I looked around. Why had I been sleeping outside?

"What kind of name is that?" Gilbert asked me, looking confused.

"Italian," I answered absentmindedly. Why couldn't I remember why I was here?

Ludwig stepped over and asked me, "What were you doing, sleeping under a tree in the rain like that? Aren't you're parents worried about you?" That's when it all came back to me. The robbers, the guns... Mama and Papa. I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes, and I didn't even try to hold them back.

"Whoa!" yelled Gilbert, surprised by my sudden outburst. Ludwig put a hand on my shoulder and waited until I calmed down before asking what was wrong.

I told them the whole story, having to stop to cry every now and then. "And now I'm lost and Lovino went somewhere else and I don't know where he is and what if he's in trouble and-"

"Hey, calm down, dude." Gilbert said. "How 'bout we help you find this Lovino person?"

"Gilbert, don't just go and decide what we're going to do without asking me first."

"Oh, come on, Lud." He turned and glared at his brother. "Can you honestly just leave him here like this?"

"Well..." he thought about it for a few seconds before saying, "I guess you're right. Let's go." He turned to leave, not even checking to see if we were going to follow.

"G-grazie!" I thanked them and ran after Ludwig. As we left the park, I couldn't help but think: what had they been doing here?

* * *

Antonio's POV

8:45. I brought my watch up to my ear. Yep, still ticking, so I was seriously awake this early. Weird. I never do that.

It wasn't very far from my place to the main parts of Seattle, but I was enjoying my walk through the small neighborhood between the two places. The clouds from last night's storm were still blocking a lot of the sunlight, but it still seemed like a great day to me. You live here for a few years and you just learn to not be bothered by the weather, I guess.

Besides my early rise, it was a pretty normal day. Get up, walk to the city, look for any kind of work a 13-year-old kid can do without breaking child labor laws, the usual. But as I was walking through the neighborhood, eating a tomato I had grabbed for breakfast, I noticed something in an ally that didn't belong there.

Sitting against a wall was a boy, about 10 years old, give or take. He had bags under his eyes, as if he hadn't slept all night, and he looked like he had been crying.

"Hey, kid!" I called, waving to him. "Something wrong?" His head sprang up when he heard my voice. I took the last bite of my tomato and headed over to him. He turned his head away and faced the ground.

"Nothing," he mumbled.

"But you were crying."

"I said nothing's wrong, dammit! Now just go away!" His eyes looked they could burn a hole strait through me. Now, I've been told I'm pretty oblivious, but I could tell that there was definitely something bothering him.

"I thought I told you to go away!" he yelled as I sat down next to him. I turned to him and grinned.

"And I don't think you really want me to." he was speechless at this. "I'm Antonio, by the way."

He hesitated for a moment before saying, "Lovino"

"So, Lovino, you gonna tell me what's up?"

* * *

The last thing I expected Lovino to tell me was that his parents were shot last night and he couldn't find his brother. I could tell that he was fighting back tears. So I put my arms around him and pulled him over to me.

"W-what the hell do you think you're doing, you bastard?" he yelled as he shoved me off of him.

"You looked like you needed a hug," I replied, smiling. He was blushing. A lot.

"Well never do it again." We sat there without saying anything for what felt like a very long time. Then an idea popped into my head. Suddenly I stood up, grabbed his arm, and started running.

Lovino was shocked. "Get off of me, you creep!" I was too excited to notice the insult.

"You're an orphan now, right?"

"Yeah, I guess. What does that have to do with you dragging me to... wherever you're taking me?"

"Well, I doubt you want to go to an orphanage, 'cause then you wouldn't be able to look for your brother. So I know the perfect place you can stay until you find him."

"And why should I trust a bastard like you?" he asked, and I could tell without looking he was glaring again.

"I can help you look for him." I was right, he'd do anything if it would help him find his brother.

"Okay, just let go of me. My legs are still tired from running last night."

"Alright, Lovi~" His eye twitched.

"What did you just call me?"

"Lovi!" The next thing I knew I was doubled over and my stomach was in pain. Lovino pulled his fist away.

"_Never _call me that again."

"Haha. Alright, Lovino." He sighed and kept walking ahead of me, and I came up next to him and led him through the small roads of the town. Looks like I wasn't gonna be looking for work today, but that really didn't matter.

* * *

So if you didn't already notice, this changes POV a lot. And there are going to be a lot of people as the story goes on. And I want to point out that this most likely won't have any pairings, but it will have several close friendships.

Well, I hope you liked this. Not sure how often I'll update, but reviews make me update faster, and when I update Lovi and Feli get that much closer to being reunited. So your reviews bring families back together!


	2. Tomatoes in an Old Apartment

So what happens when I finish my art project two days early and have nothing to do in that class? That's right, you get another chapter!

Disclaimer: I still don't own Hetalia.

* * *

Lovino's POV

Why did the guy who wanted to help me have to be such an idiot? He was all smiles and sunshine and it made me want to puke. How could anybody be that damn happy?

The place he was taking me to was only about a mile away, but we had to keep stopping so I could rest. All that running had absolutely killed my legs. At one point that bastard offered to carry me, and that earned him another fist in his gut.

Finally he stopped walking and gestured to his right. "Ta-da!"

I looked over to see a large, run-down apartment building. It had boards covering some of the windows and there were vines growing up the sides. The stone walls were worn down and faded.

"Ta-da to what, exactly?" Surely it couldn't be this dump.

"My house!" I raised an eyebrow. "This place is abandoned, so I moved in."

"What kind of family moves into an old apartment building?"

"Not a family. Just me. I haven't seen my family in at least three years." I was shocked by this. He had been alone in this place for three years? I couldn't even imagine somebody doing that, especially not somebody as insanely happy as this guy.

He took me inside and walked strait to a kitchen in the back of the main room. He opened up a pantry as I walked over.

"I've heard your stomach growling," he said, tossing me something. When I caught it I saw that it was a bright red tomato, which he had pulled out of a cabinet full of the things.

"Do you ever eat anything else?" I asked him as he grabbed one for himself.

"Sometimes. But tomatoes are great! Come on, why aren't you eating?"

"I've never had one before..."

"What? Why not?" He acted as if this was a crime of some sort.

"Mama only ever made pasta," I explained.

"But doesn't that, you know, have tomato sauce on it?"

"Not at my house. Papa was allergic."

"I didn't even know that was possible."

"Neither did he, until he ate one in fifth grade and his face puffed up like a balloon."

"Well, now's your chance to try one," he said, grinning. "Eat up!"

I looked down at the tomato and carefully took a small bite, and... wow! It was _really _good! The bastard must have noticed my reaction, because he said, "See? I knew you'd love it!"

I just shrugged. "It's okay." But I knew I wouldn't mind if this was my only food here.

* * *

Antonio's POV

I couldn't help but laugh a little at how he pretended he didn't love it. It's a good thing he didn't hear, because I'd been punched enough for one day.

"Come on, I'll show you your room!" I led Lovino up the stairs to the second floor and led him to Room 2. "Okay, there are two beds and a bathroom," I told him. "And don't bother with the TV. There's no electricity."

"What about plumbing?"

"I've got that working now. And there's a generator that's strong enough to power the water heater, but it can't power the lights at the same time."

As he walked over to one of the beds, I realized his clothes were still damp from the storm last night. "We're going shopping."

He turned around, confused. "Why?"

"You need some new clothes. None of my stuff would fit you, so you need new stuff."

"But what about-" I cut him off.

"We'll look for your brother tomorrow."

Lovino sighed. "Fine. Let's go, tomato bastard."

"'Tomato bastard'?" I asked him. That was an odd insult.

"You're an idiot bastard that eats too many tomatoes. That makes you a tomato bastard." He told me this as if I should have already known.

"Okay... well I'll go grab some money and we can go. Meet me downstairs." And with that I ran over to my room next door.

I didn't have a lot of money at the moment, but it should be enough if we didn't go anywhere too expensive. I grabbed what I had and ran down to meet Lovino.

* * *

Ludwig's POV

I didn't know what to think about this boy. He had been bawling his eyes out a few minutes ago, and now he was smiling and happy and chattering about all kinds of things (mainly pasta. What was it with this kid and pasta?)

"Ve~" There was that sound again. Why did he do that? "So I was wondering, what were you guys doing in that park? Nobody goes there anymore."

"Oh, we were sleeping in that covered picnic area there," Gilbert told him.

"Gilbert!" What did he think he was doing? He wasn't supposed to tell people that.

"Calm down. It's not that big a deal if an orphan kid knows." I was afraid that Feliciano would start crying again at the mention of him being an orphan, but I don't think he had noticed.

"Ve? Why were you doing that?"

"'Cause we pretty much live there." I slapped my forehead. He just didn't know when he should stop talking.

"But what about your family?"

This time I spoke up. I figured if I didn't, Gilbert would, and he had said enough already. "We don't have a family now. We ran away." Feliciano's face was suddenly serious (or at least as serious as he could make it)

"That's no good. I bet they miss you a whole bunch. Don't you think they're worried about you?"

Gilbert put a hand on Feliciano's shoulder. "Trust me, they don't miss us. And I'm sure you would have left, too, if they were your parents." I figured now would be a good time to change the subject.

"So where should we start looking for your brother?" Feliciano seemed to think about this for a few minutes. Finally, he said, "Well I didn't see exactly where he went, but I think it was the opposite direction of where I ran."

"So we go back towards your house and then just keep going?"

"I guess." He pointed us in the direction we should go and we started walking. Gilbert and Feliciano stared chatting again, and I would be amazed if I made it through the day without them giving me a splitting headache.

* * *

Matthew's POV

"Come on, Al. I don't wanna go in there." I'll never understand why my brother liked doing this stuff. This was just another old building, just like all the others. But Alfred insisted that there had to be some sort of monster or ghost inside.

"What's wrong, Mattie? You scared?" he asked with an annoying little smirk on his face.

"No, I just don't see why you think this is gonna be any different than all the other places you dragged me to." I decided against mentioning the fact that he was the one who was scared of ghosts. He always denied it, anyways.

"It just seems different." Sure, that's what he always said. I just gave up and followed him into the old apartment.

The first thing I noticed was the lack of cobwebs. This place had been abandoned for years. Surely there should be signs of the spiders that always took over the corners of these places. Then I saw that there was no dust anywhere. Alfred seemed to notice this, too.

"See, something has to be here. Maybe it really is a ghost!"

"Al, I don't think a ghost would be able to dust and clean up cobwebs."

"Well what else could it be, Mattie?"

"I guess somebody still lives here. I've heard of people moving into old buildings before." The problem was, who? What person would want to live in a big old apartment with no neighbors? It didn't take long for me to figure out, though, because the front door opened, and two boys walked in. After a few seconds the older one noticed me.

"Hey, there are people in my house! Did I forget to lock the door again?"

* * *

So, you got a bit of Antonio's, Ludwig's, and Gilbert's background stories. After a while I'll make some oneshots or something that give the details of what happened to each person/group of people (yes, there will be many more)

And now Al and Mattie are here! Yay!

I can has reviews?


	3. Ghosts?

I wrote most of this chapter when I was high on sugar. Even as I'm adding in the author's notes, I'm still high on sugar. Yay, sugar! Anyways, onto the chapter.

I don't own Hetalia, but I do own a world map covered with chibis ^^

* * *

Feliciano's POV

"Are you sure you're okay with going past your house?" Ludwig asked me as we walked into my neighborhood.

"Hm? Why wouldn't I?" It was just my house, after all. What could be so bad about going there?

"Well, I mean... after what happened last night..." He trailed off, but I got what he meant. I smiled. As scary as he had seemed at first, he was actually pretty caring. "Feliciano?" he asked, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"Ve~ don't worry. I'll be fine." I wasn't sure how true that was, but I didn't like it when I made people worry all the time.

It wasn't long before we started hearing a bunch of voices, like from a crowd or something of the sort. As we turned the corner, I saw that it really was a crowd. A crowd gathered around my house. There were flashes of blue and red from the police cars, and my neighbors were all chattering to each other.

"Looks like the word got out about last night," Ludwig said.

"I'm gonna go check it out!" Gilbert started to run off, but Ludwig grabbed his shoulder. "Hey, c'mon Lud! Let go!"

"If the police see you, then we'll both get dragged back to our parents. I'm sure they told the police when we ran off, so they must have seen pictures of us."

"And what makes you think they even remember what I look like?" Gilbert asked his brother.

Ludwig held up a finger. "One, you have white hair and red eyes. It's pretty hard to forget." He held up a second finger. "Two, you've had more than one run-in with the law, so at least one of them has probably had to deal with you before."

"I guess you have a point..." he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "So we just keep going?" He looked at me for an answer.

I nodded. "I don't want to stay here, anyway," I told them. It was just too weird seeing all of this going on where I lived.

"Hey, don't look so down, kid!" Gilbert said. "I know, how about we get some breakfast? There's an awesome doughnut place about ten minutes from here." At the mention of food, my stomach growled. "I'll take that as a yes."

He showed us which way to go and we headed out to get our much-needed food.

* * *

Lovino's POV

I hate shopping. I really freakin _hate _shopping. And it's even worse when it's with a certain smiley Spaniard.

He had dragged me all over the city, trying to make me pick out stuff at these big, crowded stores. After a few hours and a lot of arguing from me, we were headed back towards the apartment with a few pairs of jeans, some plain t-shirts, and a pair of sweat pants to sleep in.

"You really went with simple stuff, Lovi," the bastard commented. There was that name again. Ever since we left the apartment it had been Lovi this and Lovi that. Lovi Lovi freaking Lovi. I hated it, and he wouldn't stop.

It's not so much that I hated being called that, I just hated _him _saying it. I-it reminded me too much of how Mama and Feliciano would call me that. This guy barely knew me. He shouldn't be allowed to give me nicknames.

"Hey, Lovi. Lovi? Lovi!" he yelled, bringing me out of my thoughts.

"Dammit, tomato bastard. Stop calling me that!" He just laughed. What the hell? Every time I got mad and yelled at him, he'd just laugh it off. Who in their right mind does that?

"Anyways, we're home." Oh, I guess we were ho- Wait, home? This wasn't home, I was just staying here for a while and... and I guess I had pretty much moved in, hadn't I? So that meant this was home now? The idea seemed so strange.

I ran after him when realized he was already walking up to the door.

The last thing I thought I'd see was a random boy standing near one of the read couches in the entrance area. No wait, there were two of them. Weird, I hadn't seen the other one a second ago.

After a few seconds, Antonio saw them and said, "Hey, there are people in my house! Did I forget to lock the door again?"

"You sure as hell forgot, you bastard!" For probably the fifteenth time today, my fist met his stomach.

* * *

Alfred's POV

I just stared and blinked at the scene in front of me. The shorter of the two boys was yelling a string of curses (some of them in some other language) and the other was just smiling.

Then a thought popped into my head. If these two were the ones who lived here, then didn't that make them the...

"Ghosts!" I yelled (no, it wasn't a scream, because heroes don't scream) and I hid behind Matthew, but then I realized he wouldn't make a very good shield and ran upstairs.

The first door I saw led to Room 2, so I ran inside, bolted into the bathroom, and locked the door behind me. After several minutes, I heard footsteps, and somebody rattled the doorknob. "Go away," I said.

"Will you just get out of my bathroom, already? I'm not a damn ghost."

I wasn't sure if I should trust him or not. "Prove it."

"...If I was a ghost, I'd just pass through the wall instead of worrying about the door." This logic made enough sense to me, so I slowly opened the door and walked out.

"So... you're Alfred, right?" the boy asked.

"Whoa! Are you psychic or something?" I asked in amazement.

"No, your brother told me." Oh, too bad. That wasn't as cool. "I need the bathroom," he said. I moved out of his way and walked over to the window to watch a small group of people walking by.

When he came back out, I said, "Hey you! Angry kid!"

He sighed. "Lovino."

"Yeah sure, that. Come look at these weird people."

"You shouldn't do that. You're acting like a damn stalker. And what the hell are you still doing in my room?"

I ignored the question and said, "But look at them. It's funny!" He didn't seem to care, but I kept talking anyways. "That one looks all annoyed. He needs to lighten up and have some fun. And that guy has a really weird hair color. I didn't think it was supposed to do that until you got older... Oh, and that boy looks a lot like you, only happier. He even has that same weird curl of hair sticking out. But it looks like it's on the opposite side."

When I turned to look at him, Lovino was stiff. "Is something wrong, dude?"

I heard him whisper, "Feliciano..." and then he ran full speed out of the room.

"Um, okay?" I said as he slammed the door behind him. "Weirdo."

* * *

Yay, reunion! Or at least we're getting close to it...

It's funny how some characters are a lot easier to write that others. I mean, it's really easy for me to write Lovi (I guess that's why I use his POV so much ^^; ) but I'm not as good with Al.

I also love looking at where my readers are from. From where most are from to the least they are: America, Canada, UK, Poland, Chile, Indonesia, Costa Rica, Finland, China, Germany, Norway, Malaysia, Australia, Korea, Philippines, Ecuador, Japan, Italy, and Guam. Most of you probably don't care, but I think it's fun imagine the characters reading this ^^

*is still high on sugar*

Please review ( ^-^)9


	4. All Together

What's this? An update that didn't take weeks? *gasps* I love writing this. It gets less hits and less reviews than my other two, but I think this is still my favorite ^^

Why no, I don't own Hetalia. Thank you for asking.

* * *

Feliciano's POV

I popped the last bit of my doughnut in my mouth. It wasn't the greatest thing in the world, but it was the first thing I'd had to eat since lunch yesterday, so I didn't mind. So far we had no leads on where Lovino could be. We had made it into an old neighborhood with houses that were barely standing. The only thing that wasn't falling apart was a big building that we were passing behind.

"Hey look," Gilbert said, pointing to the place. "Is it just me or does it look like somebody's been taking care of that little garden there?" I looked over and saw a small tomato garden. It really did look like somebody had tended to it recently.

"Ve~ that's so weird. I wonder why-" I was cut off by a shout from the other side of the building. I hadn't heard what they were yelling, but the sound of the voice bothered me. It sounded familiar...

"Feliciano!" the shout came again. I spun around at the sound of my name. Before I could even see who it was, something slammed into me and I hit the ground.

"F-fratello?" I couldn't believe it. Within seconds I had my arms thrown around him and was bawling into his shoulder.

"D-dammit, Feli. Get off of me." I pulled away and wiped my tears away, and I smiled. Even though he wouldn't admit it, I could tell he was glad to see me. I heard Ludwig clear his throat. Woops, forgot he was even there...

"Care to explain what's going on?" he asked me.

"Oh, right! Ludwig, this is Lovino, mio fratello. Lovi, that's Ludwig, and the other one's his brother Gilbert." Ludwig offered a hand to help him up, but he refused.

"I can get up on my own, bastard," he grumbled. Then he slapped away Ludwig's hand when he tried to help me up. "Stay away from my brother."

"But, Lovi, it's okay. They're nice people," I told him. I knew it was pointless, though. Once he decided he didn't like somebody, there was no changing his mind.

* * *

Antonio's POV

Matthew and I stared at the door. He gave me a look as if to ask "Is that normal for him?" I shook my head no.

What had gotten into him? He had suddenly come running (or rather falling) down the steps. It had to hurt when he hit the bottom, but he just got back up and ran full speed out the door. And when he got outside it sounded like he was running around back yelling something I couldn't make out.

"Um... I'll go check on Al. You should probably do after him," Matthew said. I jogged out after him, and when I got to the back of the building I was surprised to find a small group of people there, one of which looked almost exactly like Lovino.

"Hey, Lovi! Who's that?" He turned around. He still had that normal angry look on his face, but his eyes looked happy.

"Hey, tomato bastard," he said. "We don't need to look for my brother anymore." He noticed the confused look on my face and sighed. "Idiot. Tomato bastard, meet Feliciano."

"Hi!" said Lovino's (much happier) brother. "You know Lovi?"

I smiled. "Yeah, I-"

"He was just letting me stay here 'til I could find you," Lovino interrupted. It was at that point I noticed that I was being stared at. I looked up to see a very familiar set of red eyes watching me.

"Gil!" I called. "Wow, it's been a long time."

"Hmph. That's an understatement," Gilbert said. "I haven't seen you in three years, Tonio. Nobody has. Most of the school thinks you're dead or something. You wouldn't believe the crazy stories people have come up with."

"Yeah, well what about you? You're not exactly close to home."

"You know how it was. We just left a few weeks ago." I nodded. I always knew they'd run off one day. Then I noticed the two brothers staring at us.

"Lovi, Feli," I ignored Lovino's annoyed look at the use of these nicknames. "Gilbert and I go way back. He was a grade below me in school, and we've known each other for... what was it? Seven years, counting the time I've been gone?

"Eight," he corrected.

"Oh yeah, that's right. Anyways, you guy wanna come inside?" The group nodded and I led them in through the back door.

* * *

Gilbert's POV

I've gotta say, I couldn't believe Antonio lived here. I always had him pegged as the type of person who wouldn't be able to live on his own at all, let alone in a place like this. Guess I didn't know my friend as well as I thought.

Antonio had all of us (including a couple of blonde boys that had been waiting inside) sit on the red couches and chairs of what I guess must have been the lobby when people actually lived here.

"Okay, so by the looks of it," he began when we were seated, "that in one day I've gone from having nobody know I'm here to there being five extra people here."

"Six," I said.

"What?"

"There are six extra people here."

"Oh, right. Forgot to count Matthew... Anyways, everybody in this room either has no home or doesn't want to go back to their home." We all understood what he was getting at. It would be a lot easier to stay here than to live outside somewhere. We looked at each other and nodded in agreement.

"All right, then. I already have Room 1. Feli, you can stay in Room 2 with Lovi. Gil and Ludwig, you guys get Room 3."

"Whoa whoa whoa. Wait," I said, stopping him. "Why should I have to share a room? Awesome people get their own room!" He just laughed.

"I see you still love the word awesome. And anyways, I only have four rooms clean, so three of them need to have more than one person. And since we have three sets of brothers here, I thought we'd just go with that." I sat back and crossed my arms. I really couldn't argue with that.

"So that means we're sharing a room, Mattie!" exclaimed one of the other boys. "Just like when we were little, right?"

"Al, stop shouting indoors..." the boy sighed, as if he had asked him to do this many times. After the room arrangements were made, everybody started to head upstairs to see their rooms. Well, except for Antonio. He was off to get something he could make for dinner.

I ran up to the two blonde boys and said, "Hey, we haven't been introduced, and all people should know who I am! My name's Gilbert."

"I'm Alfred!" said the slightly taller one.

"And I'm Matthew. Nice to meet you." He looked a lot like Alfred, but his hair was longer and lighter, and his eyes had a hint of violet in them.

"Cool. Hey, you guys don't snore, do you?" I asked them. If I had to have a room next to them, I didn't want to be kept up all night. They both shook their heads no. "Good. Well, see ya at dinner!" And I ran after Ludwig to go see where we'd be staying.

* * *

Around the time I started writing Gil's part, I found Pixy Stix. In other words, another sugar rush! Mwahahahaha! Not that it made anything really weird happen like I had hoped, but whatever.

So, the Italian brothers are back together. Hooray!

It seems like my chapters keep getting shorter... I'll try not to keep doing that.

Pretty soon I'm going to start those oneshots explaining why each person is out on the streets. I'm going to put up a poll on my profile so you can pick who I do first. So make sure to vote (it'll be up within ten minutes of me posting this chapter)

And please review (^¬^)


	5. Guqin on the Streets

Another update! Woohoo! I'm on a roll! No sugar this time, sadly...

Oh, Hetalia. How I wish you were mine...

* * *

Matthew's POV

Gilbert wanted to know if _we_ snored? He was the one keeping us up all night with all of _his_ snoring. I swear that guy was shaking the whole house.

"Hey Al, you still awake?" I whispered in the direction of the other bed in hopes of at least having somebody to talk to while I was awake. No answer. I should have known. After all, he once slept through a tornado that passed near our house, there was no way this would keep him up. I hugged my stuffed polar bear closer and tried to ignore it.

* * *

I came down the stairs the next morning rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. I had finally fallen asleep last night, but not for very long. I had slept in until noon and I still didn't get enough sleep.

When I got to the lobby, everybody was sitting around a plastic fold-out table eating the leftover pasta Antonio had made last night to celebrate Feliciano and Lovino being reunited. Speaking of Antonio, I didn't see him anywhere.

"Where's Antonio?" I asked Alfred after heating up my meal and sitting next to him.

"I thin' 'e said somfing 'bout work," he said with his mouth full. I gave him the Dear-God-Al-swallow-before-you-start-talking look, so he did so and continued. "He left about an hour ago."

"Work?" I asked. "Isn't he too young for work?"

"He told me he does odd jobs for the people in the city," Gilbert explained. "He has to get money somehow, right?" I guess that made sense. Lovino and Feliciano got up and rinsed their plates.

"C'mon, Lovi!" Feliciano called.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm coming," his brother answered, and followed him up the stairs. It sounded like they kept going up to the third floor, though.

"What are they doing?" Ludwig looked up.

"Antonio said he wanted us to clean the third floor rooms while he was out," he told me. When I gave him a confused look, he sighed and said, "He told us this morning that since we're all here, there might be other people that need rooms, too. He wants those rooms to be ready just in case."

"And that," Gilbert added, "can be translated to 'I'm gonna start bringing home more homeless kids.' I can almost guarantee that there's gonna be somebody new by tonight." I couldn't tell if this was a great idea or just stupid. I know other people needed help, but could a bunch of kids really live alone together?

Well, it would be interesting at least...

* * *

Antonio's POV

"See you next week, Ms. Peer!" I waved goodbye to the older lady and stepped outside. It was 4:00 pm. Cool, I was done early today!

"Okay!" I said to myself. "Time to look for orphan kids!" It shouldn't be too hard, right? I saw people on the streets all the time. Then again, I didn't see kids as often.

I started wandering aimlessly through the city. Surely there had to be somebody if I looked around a bit. I passed by the many stores and other buildings, occasionally stopping to listen to one of the people playing things like violins, guitars, and drums in hopes of getting tips. Many of them were disappointed when I left without giving anything. They saw me a lot, and they knew I'd normally give them something, but I'd spent a lot of money on clothes for Lovino and all the extra food I had to buy yesterday.

As I strolled down a street that I don't go to very often, one performer caught my attention. The first thing I noticed was the odd instrument she was playing. I think it was called a guqin, if I remembered right. Then I saw the one playing it. She looked like she was only a few years older than I was, maybe 15.

_Maybe this is who I've been looking for. _I thought. I stood there for a few more minutes listening to the music she played. It sounded like the kind of thing you'd hear in Asia or something, and it was really nice. Then, when I remembered what I was supposed to be doing, I walked up and put a couple dollars in the basket in front of him.

"Hey, can I talk to you for a second?" I asked her. She glanced up and nodded. "I was just wondering, miss, if-" I didn't get to finish because she stood up and slapped me on the side of the head. Hard.

She glared at me as I rubbed the bump on my head and said, "I'm a guy –aru."

* * *

Lovino's POV

"Dammit, why is all this stuff so heavy?" I yelled as I put down another box. When the tomato bastard said he wanted us to clean out those rooms, I thought he had just meant dusting and putting the bed sheets in the washing machine. Nope, it meant moving out all the big boxes of stuff left behind by the old resident and putting them in the basement.

Even worse, the loud kid, Alfred, and the annoying white-haired guy, Gilbert, had decided that cleaning was boring, so it was just me, Feliciano, the potato bastard (as I had named Ludwig since he had said he would have preferred potatoes over pasta for dinner), and Matthew.

"This is the last one," the potato bastard said when he put down his box.

"Took long enough," I muttered as I checked my watch. "Jeez, it's 5:00! I should start making dinner since the tomato bastard's not home yet."

"No need, Matthew already started." I'd heard Alfred mention earlier that his brother was a pretty good cook, so I figured I'd let him make the food alone. I headed back up to the ground floor and flopped down on one of the lobby's couches. Feliciano was soon next to me, blabbering on and on about something. I just kept nodding and acting like I was listening. It was great to have him back and all, but he still talks too much.

"I wonder where the bastard is?" I wondered aloud when I noticed an hour had passed and dinner was ready. As if on cue, the door opened up.

"Hey, everybody! Guess what?" he called.

Gilbert, who had come back a little bit ago, said, "You brought back more people, right?" Antonio looked surprised.

"How did you know?"

"It really wasn't hard to guess. So who is it?" Antonio stepped inside, and so did three other boys.

"Everybody, I'd like you to meet Yao, Kiku, and Yong Soo. They'll be living in Room 5," he said, gesturing to each person as he said their name.

"Nice to meet you –aru," Yao, the oldest of the three (and probably out of all the people in the room), said. Kiku just bowed politely, and Yong Soo had already run upstairs.

"Please excuse our little brother," said Kiku once Yong Soo was out of earshot. "He can be a bit... energetic at times." He sounded like he was about to say something besides 'energetic', but had decided against it.

"No problem," the tomato bastard told him. "Now, I should probably show you your room. Good thing I have some with three beds, huh? Hey Alfred! Help me carry their stuff!"

"Sure thing!" Alfred yelled back. When they left, Gilbert looked over at me.

"See, told you he'd have somebody new when he came home. Do I have awesome prediction abilities or what?"

I glared at him and said, "I'm gonna go with 'or what'," Then I sighed. "But if he's found people all ready, how many more will there be?"

* * *

Yay, Asian brothers! Yeah, be ready for a lot of characters to come in.

If you don't know, a guqin is a 7 stringed zither. The music people play on it is so pretty, and I loved the idea of Yao playing one ^^

Please keep voting on my poll! Right now there are only three votes and they're for three different people. That really doesn't help me decide. I want to start writing their stories as soon as I can!

And if anybody wants to draw fanart of a moment they like and send it to me, I'd love you for that ^^

Oh, and I know I update this a lot more than my other fics, but I just love this one! I'll still be updating the others, just not as quickly as this.

Reviews, please? (=¬=)9 6(¬_¬)


	6. Calm for His Sake

I finally figured out what to do with this chapter. I don't think it came out all that great, but at least I've updated, right?

Nothing's mine.

* * *

Yao's POV

"Done –aru," I stepped back and looked at the board in front of me. So we could keep track of everybody that was already here, and those that would be coming, Ludwig had suggested we write down all the people here. The information was written like this:

Name (age) Reason for not having a home, Relatives in the apartment (relation), Family outside of house (yes/no)

The board currently said:

_*Antonio Fernandez Carriedo (13) Left home, None, Yes_

_Lovino Vargas (10) Parents killed, Feliciano (brother), No_

_Feliciano Vargas (10) Parents killed, Lovino (brother), No_

_*Ludwig Beillschmidt (12) Ran away, Gilbert (brother), Yes_

_Gilbert Beillschmidt (13) Ran away, Ludwig (brother), Yes_

_Alfred F. Jones (11) Left home, Matthew (half brother), Yes_

_Matthew Williams (10) Left home, Alfred (half brother), Yes_

_*Wang Yao (15) House burnt down, Kiku (adopted brother) Yong Soo (adopted brother), No_

_Kiku Honda (12) House burnt down, Yao (adopted brother) Yong Soo (adopted brother), No_

_Im Yong Soo (11) House burnt down, Yao (adopted brother) Kiku (adopted brother), No_

_The names marked with stars were the people that everybody agreed should be in charge (Antonio because he owns the place, Ludwig because he was the most responsible, and me because of my age). Well, Alfred and Gilbert actually argued that they could run everything, but their brothers told us that would be a very bad idea._

"Ve~ Lunch is ready!" Feliciano called from the kitchen. He had volunteered to do most of the cooking for now. He was going to make pasta, but Ludwig told him that he was tired of it after three meals in a row, so he made grilled cheese sandwiches (one of the only things that could be made with his limited ingredients) instead.

Everybody gathered at the plastic fold-out tables and started eating, among other things. Lovino was yelling at Antonio again, Feliciano was chattering about something to Ludwig (who was barely listening), Alfred and Gilbert were arguing over whether heroics or awesomeness was better, Yong Soo was groping Kiku (just so he could see his reaction), and Matthew was nowhere to be found.

"What kind of crazy place is this –aru?" I sighed. "I don't know how long I can take this..." I rested my head in my hands, but then I felt somebody touching my shoulder. Kiku, now that he was free from Yong Soo, had come over.

"I know what you're thinking," he said. "It's kind of odd here, but can you honestly say you would rather be in a box somewhere?" I smiled at him. He was right, this was definitely better than that.

After everybody had finished their lunch, they went off in all different directions. I met Antonio at the front door and we headed off towards the city. It had already been decided that I would keep earning money with my guqin while he went off and did odd jobs for people. After all, there were a lot of people to feed.

I was starting to realize that Antonio was almost always happy. Even when he talked about getting yelled at he was smiling. He actually kind of reminded me of Yong Soo, just not as annoying.

I stopped at an empty corner and set up while the Spaniard kept going. Once I was ready I let my fingers start moving, one hand plucking the strings and the other sliding across them. Before long I had closed my eyes and tuned out the noise of the people around me.

I didn't open my eyes again until I felt I tap on top of my head. "Time to go home!" Antonio said. I looked around. The sun was starting to set, and I had collected about $30. Pretty good day.

"Alright –aru," I said. I packed up my guqin and started the walk home.

* * *

Kiku's POV

I flopped down on my bed, panting softly. It had taken me a good fifteen minutes to get away from Yong Soo and his groping. And judging by the yells from downstairs, it sounded like this time he had decided to go after… Alfred and Matthew? At the same time? Oh, Yong Soo. I will never understand you.

As I laid there, I started to wonder what kinds of people would be living here next. It seemed like Antonio was ready to let any kid stay here, so there were sure to be more, and probably soon. Then I had an idea.

"I wonder if they would want to…" I said to myself. "I guess I'll just have to ask Yao to take me to see them when he gets back." No sooner than I said that, I heard the front door open.

"We're home -aru!" came the call from two floors down. I headed down there to ask him.

"Well, I'm gonna go talk to Lovi~" said Antonio. "He said he'd wait for me today." And he walked away. When Yao spotted me, he smiled.

"Hey, Kiku. How was your day -aru?" he asked.

"It was fine," I replied. Then I asked, "Would you mind taking me somewhere?"

"Hm? Where do you want to go -aru?"

"There are a couple of friends of mine that I want to tell about this place." He thought for a second and then nodded.

"Let me just put this away," he said, lifting his guqin case a little. "Then we should go before Yong Soo decides he wants to tag along."

"Actually, he should come, too." Yao looked surprised that I wasn't trying to avoid the younger boy for once, but then he shrugged and headed towards our room.

"Good," I whispered to myself. "Those two need a place to go before they get taken back again."

* * *

Lovino's POV

Bored. I was very, very bored. And there was nothing to do. The only way I would be able to entertain myself in this place would be to hang out with other people, but Feliciano was with the potato bastards (who I refused to go near), Alfred and Yong Soo kind of annoyed me, Kiku… I didn't even know what to think about him, I couldn't even find Matthew, and the others were gone.

And to make things worse, the tomato bastard had kept asking me to wait for him to come home today, and I got tired of arguing. So now I was sitting on the bed in his room, staring at the ceiling for lack of anything else to do.

After an eternity of doing nothing, I noticed a sound coming from the room next door. Mine and Feliciano's room. When I listened closer I realized it was the sound of somebody crying.

I jumped off the bed and ran to our room. I hesitated for a second, but I slowly opened the door and walked inside, and there was my brother, sitting on his bed and sobbing into his hands.

"Feli," I whispered, but he didn't seem to hear me, so I tried a little louder. "Feli, what happened?" This time he heard me and looked up, but he couldn't say anything, he just kept crying. I sighed and seated myself next to him. I put my arm around his shoulders and stroked his hair, careful to avoid his curl. It was always a bit awkward for me to do this, but it had proved to be one of the easiest ways to calm my brother down.

Once he looked like he could talk again, I asked, "Did something happen? 'Cause if those potatoes hurt you, I swear I'll-"

"No," he said,"It wasn't them. I just," he paused for a moment and continued. "I was just thinking, well… we're never gonna see Mama and Papa again, are we?" My eyes widened and I took a deep breath to avoid crying myself. It's not like I hadn't already realized this, but hearing somebody say it out loud made me realize it was really true.

"No, we're not," I told him. We were silent for a while, until his tears started to fall again.

* * *

Ludwig's POV

It had been a while since Feliciano had suddenly left for his room. He looked really sad about something, but it seemed like following him wouldn't be a very good idea. But now I was thinking I should go check and make sure he was okay.

When I walked over to his room two doors down, I saw a confused looking Antonio going towards it, too.

"Oh, hey, Ludwig. Have you seen Lovi?" he asked when he saw me.

"Nein. Have you seen Feliciano?"

"Nope," he said. "I guess they're in there, then." He pointed to their room and I nodded. When we walked inside (Antonio didn't even bother to knock), we saw something neither of us expected. Feliciano was crying, and Lovino had his arm around him and was stroking his hair in an attempt to comfort him.

I waited for the yells that were sure to come from the older of the two, but he just calmly looked up and said. "Go away."

"But, Lovi-" Antonio started, but he was cut off.

"Just… just leave us alone for a little while, okay? At least until he calms down. We'll see you two at dinner." Antonio and I left the room and stood in silence in the hall for a few moments.

"Wow…" he said, breaking the silence.

"I think that's the first time he hasn't yelled at either of us in a couple of days," I said.

"…he was staying calm for Feliciano's sake, I think." When I gave him a questioning look, he explained, "It looked like whatever made Feli so upset made him want to cry, too. He just didn't want Feli to be sad any more. And if he had yelled then he might not have been able to keep himself calm enough to keep from breaking down."

I stared at him. I didn't think this guy was capable of noticing stuff like that. Though it seemed like he could only do this with Lovino. That was probably a good thing, though, since I don't think anybody else would be able to figure him out.

"I'm gonna go lay down for a bit," he said. "See you at dinner!"

* * *

Arthur's POV

"Peter!" I called. Where could he have run off to this time? I swear, every time I turned around he was gone.

'Hey, jerk!" I heard my brother call from nearby. I let out a relieved sigh. Looks like I wouldn't have to search all over the city for him this time.

"Do you really have to call me a jerk whenever you talk to me?" I asked him. "I do have a name, you know."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever, jerk. Anyway, look! Yong Soo and Kiku are here!" I looked behind and saw that yes, they were coming over to us.

"Oh. Hi, Kiku," I said as I waved to him.

"Hello, Arthur." He bowed slightly. I really don't know why he thought he needed to be so formal with me. We had known each other for several months already. Oh well.

While Peter went to talk to Yong Soo, I noticed the other Asian boy(?) standing behind Kiku. "Oh!" he said when he realized that I didn't know this person. "This is Yao. Yao, this is Arthur, and that boy's his brother Peter."

"Oh, Kiku's mentioned you before. Nice to meet you." I turned back to Kiku. "So what are you doing here, anyway? Besides having your brother distract Peter so I can relax for a second." I honestly didn't expect the answer he gave me.

"I know a place where you can stay."

* * *

Antonio's POV

Yao and his brothers got back about an hour after they had left. And while Kiku made dinner, I found myself having to update the list of residents:

_Arthur Kirkland (12) Ran from orphanage, Peter (brother), No_

_Peter Kirkland (9) Ran from orphanage, Arthur (brother), No_

* * *

So… yeah. Iggy and Sea-kun ^^ I'm gonna say right now, I don't really know if there are orphanages in Seattle. But that's what the "fiction" part of fanfiction is for. Not everything has to be entirely accurate, right? ^^;

Thank you to peppaminty for the first fanart anybody's sent me for any of my fics (no, Justin, your's doesn't count. Getting art from a friend doesn't make me feel as awesome as getting art from a complete stranger.) Here's the link (take out spaces):

peppaminty. deviantart. com/art/I-m-a-Guy-aru-187006714

Till next time. Reviews make Feli happy again (=¬=)9


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